Synchronizing satellite positioning system information to features of short-range, ad hoc wireless network protocols

ABSTRACT

Satellite positioning system information and/or other information is communicated to/from a mobile terminal by synchronizing satellite positioning system information that is communicated to/from the mobile terminal over a short-range, ad hoc wireless network relative to a feature of a protocol that is used for the short-range, ad hoc wireless network communications. The feature may be a header field in the short-range, ad hoc wireless network communications. Related methods, mobile terminals and short-range ad hoc wireless networks are described.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a divisional of U.S. application Ser. No.11/389,739, filed Mar. 27, 2006, entitled Cooperative Global PositioningSystems (GPS) Processing By Mobile Terminals That Communicate Via an AdHoc Wireless Network, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety as if set forth fully herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to wireless communications networks, methods anddevices, and more particularly to determining the position of a mobileterminal.

DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART

Wireless communication systems (networks) are commonly employed toprovide voice and data communications to subscribers. For example,analog cellular systems, such as those designated AMPS, ETACS, NMT-450,and NMT-900, have long been deployed successfully throughout the world.Digital cellular systems such as those conforming to the North Americanstandard IS-54 and the European standard GSM have been in service sincethe early 1990's. More recently, a wide variety of wireless digitalservices broadly labeled as PCS (Personal Communications Services) havebeen introduced, including advanced digital cellular systems conformingto standards such as IS-136 and IS-95, lower-power systems such as DECT(Digital Enhanced Cordless Telephone) and data communications servicessuch as CDPD (Cellular Digital Packet Data).

In addition to such regulated wide area cellular networks, ad hoc,short-range transmission protocols and wireless local area networks(WLAN) are also known. For example, ad hoc, short-range wirelesscoupling between mobile terminals can be provided using the Bluetoothprotocol for short-range transmission (typically up to a maximumdistance of 100 meters). As is well known to those having skill in theart, Bluetooth is a global standard that can eliminate wires and cablesbetween both stationary and mobile devices, can facilitate both data andvoice communication, and can provide ad hoc networks that can be set upautomatically and provide synchronicity between network devices.Bluetooth is described in detail at Bluetooth.com.

It is desirable, and in certain places mandated by law, that mobiletelecommunication network providers be able to determine an approximategeographical location of a mobile terminal, such as, for example, anactively communicating cellular telephone.

A variety of mobile location techniques have been proposed. Theselocation techniques include Global Positioning System (GPS)-basedapproaches and assisted GPS approaches combining communication signalsand GPS signals. As is well known to those having skill in the art, GPSis a satellite navigation system that is funded by and controlled by theU.S. Department of Defense, that provides specially coded satellitesignals that can be processed in a GPS receiver, enabling the receiverto compute position, velocity and/or time. As used herein, the term“GPS” also includes other satellite-based systems that can be used tomeasure positions on the earth, such as GLONASS and Galileo.

FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional terrestrial wide area mobile(wireless) communications network 20 that may implement any one of avariety of known wireless communications standards including uplink anddownlink signals. The wireless network 20 may include one or more mobileterminals 22 that communicate with a plurality of cells 24 served bybase stations 26 and a mobile telephone switching office (MTSO) 28.Although only three cells 24 are shown in FIG. 1, a typical cellularnetwork may comprise hundreds of cells, and may include more than oneMTSO 28 and may serve thousands of wireless mobile terminals 22.

The cells 24 generally serve as nodes in the network 20, from whichlinks are established between mobile terminals 22 and a MTSO 28, by wayof the base stations 26 servicing the cells 24. Each cell 24 will haveallocated to it one or more dedicated control channels and one or moretraffic channels. The control channel is a dedicated channel that may beused for downlink transmission (network to mobile) of cellidentification and paging information. The traffic channels carry thevoice and data information. Through the network 20, a duplex (downlinkand uplink) radio communication link 30 may be effected between twomobile terminals 22 or between a mobile terminal 22 and a landlinetelephone user 32 via a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 34. Thefunction of the base station 26 is commonly to handle the radiocommunications between the cell 24 and the wireless mobile terminal 22.In this capacity, the base station 26 may function chiefly as a relaystation for data and voice signals. It is also known to provide widearea cellular wireless communications networks in which the functionsprovided by the base stations are provided by satellites, havingassociated coverage areas, rather than terrestrial base stations.

The GPS location approach generally uses location services notassociated with either the uplink or downlink signals used in the mobiletelecommunications network. In a typical GPS application, the GPSreceivers collect and analyze ranging measurements from signalstransmitted by GPS satellites having known locations.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, GPS is a space-based triangulation systemusing satellites 42 and GPS control computers 48 to measure positions onthe earth. GPS was first developed by the United States Department ofDefense as a navigational system. This navigational system may not belimited in its coverage, may provide continuous 24-hour coverage, andmay be highly accurate regardless of weather conditions. In operation, aconstellation of 24 satellites 42 orbiting the earth continually emit aGPS radio signal 44. A GPS receiver 46, e.g., a hand-held radio receiverwith a GPS processor, receives the radio signals from the visiblesatellites and measures the time that the radio signal takes to travelfrom the GPS satellites to the GPS receiver antenna. By multiplying thetravel time by the speed of light, the GPS receiver can calculate arange for each satellite in view. Ephemeris information provided in thesatellite radio signal typically describes the satellite's orbit andvelocity, thereby generally enabling the GPS processor to calculate theposition of the GPS receiver 46 through a process of triangulation. Itis known to include a GPS receiver 46 in a mobile terminal 22 to provideposition location functionality to the mobile terminal 22.

The startup of a GPS receiver typically requires the acquisition of aset of navigational parameters from the navigational data signals offour or more GPS satellites. This process of initializing a GPS receivermay often take several minutes. The duration of the GPS positioningprocess generally is directly dependent upon how much information a GPSreceiver has initially. Some GPS receivers are programmed with almanacdata, which coarsely describes the expected satellite positions for upto one year ahead. However, if the GPS receiver does not have someknowledge of its own approximate location, then the GPS receiver may notbe able to find or acquire signals from the visible satellites quicklyenough, and, therefore, cannot calculate its position quickly.Furthermore, it should be noted that a higher signal strength istypically needed for capturing the navigation data at start-up than isneeded for continued monitoring of an already-acquired signal. It shouldalso be noted that the process of monitoring the GPS signal may besignificantly affected by environmental factors. Thus, a GPS signalwhich may be easily acquired in the open typically becomes harder toacquire when a receiver is under foliage, in a vehicle or in a building.

It is also known to provide mobile terminals with accurate locationassistance data, e.g., local time and position estimates, satelliteephemeris and clock information, and a visible satellite list (whichgenerally varies with the location of the mobile station). The use ofsuch assistance data can permit a GPS receiver that is integrated withor connected to a mobile terminal to expedite the completion of itsstart-up procedures.

GPS receivers may be integrated into a mobile terminal. See, forexample, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,424,826 to Horton et al., entitled Systems andMethods for Sharing Reference Frequency Signals Within a Wireless MobileTerminal Between a Wireless Transceiver and a Global Positioning SystemReceiver; and 6,097,974 to Camp, Jr. et al., entitled Combined GPS andWide Bandwidth Radiotelephone Terminals and Methods.

It is also known to provide mobile terminals with an ability toparticipate in a short-range ad hoc wireless network, by providingshort-range, ad-hoc wireless network capability, such as Bluetoothcapability, therein. FIG. 3 illustrates a plurality of mobile terminals50 that may be part of a conventional terrestrial wide area wirelesscommunications network. A subset of the mobile terminals 50′ that areclose to one another, may be interconnected by a short-range, ad hocwireless network 60 using short-range, ad hoc wireless links 62 betweenthe mobile terminals 50′. The ad hoc network 60 can be set upautomatically, and provide synchronicity between the mobile terminals50′.

As used herein, the term “mobile terminal” includes cellular and/orsatellite radiotelephones with or without a multi-line display; PersonalCommunications System (PCS) terminals that may combine a radiotelephonewith data processing, facsimile and/or data communications capabilities;Personal Digital Assistants (PDA) that can include a cellular radiofrequency transceiver and a pager, Internet/intranet access, Webbrowser, organizer, calendar and/or conventional laptop and/or palmtopcomputers or other appliances, which include a cellular radio frequencytransceiver. As used herein, a mobile terminal also includesshort-range, ad hoc network connectivity. A GPS receiver may or may notbe included in the mobile terminal.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present invention include networks, methods, systems(apparatus) and devices for determining a position of a mobile terminal.The position of a given mobile terminal is determined by communicatingsatellite positioning system information between the given mobileterminal and at least one other mobile terminal over a short-range, adhoc wireless network, such as a Bluetooth network, to cooperativelydetermine the position of the given mobile terminal by the given mobileterminal and the at least one other mobile terminal that communicateover the short-range, ad hoc wireless network. In some embodiments,satellite positioning system information is communicated by distributingprocessing of satellite positioning information, by distributingreceiving of satellite positioning system information from a satellite,by communicating assistance data and/or by synchronizing timing ofsatellite positioning information, between the given mobile terminal andthe at least one other mobile terminal over the short-range, ad hocwireless network. These embodiments may be combined in variouscombinations and subcombinations.

In some embodiments, cooperative processing takes place by distributingthe processing of the satellite positioning information among one ormore mobile terminals that are connected by the short-range, ad hocwireless network. Specifically, the satellite positioning informationthat is used to determine the position of the given mobile terminal ispartitioned into a plurality of partitions. At least one of thepartitions is communicated to at least one other mobile terminal overthe short-range, ad hoc wireless network for processing by the at leastone other mobile terminal. In some embodiments, the results of theprocessing may be received from the at least one other mobile terminalover the short-range, ad hoc wireless network. The results of theprocessing by the various mobile terminals may be combined to determinethe position of the given mobile terminal.

In other embodiments, processing instructions for the partitions mayalso be communicated over the short-range, ad hoc wireless network, sothat the mobile terminals know how to process their partition(s). Instill other embodiments, ancillary data for at least one of thepartitions may also be communicated over the short-range, ad hocwireless network. In some embodiments, partitioning may be based onpartitioning satellite positioning information for a respective one of aplurality of satellite positioning system satellites. In particular,information for a respective GPS satellite may be processed by arespective one of the mobile terminals that are linked together in theshort-range, ad hoc wireless network. Moreover, in other embodiments,processing may be duplicated by two or more of the mobile terminals, andthe mobile terminal that obtains the results first may send the resultsback over the short-range, ad hoc wireless network.

In other embodiments of the invention, the cooperative processing maytake place by distributing the receiving of satellite positioninginformation from a satellite among the mobile terminals that are linkedby the short-range, ad hoc wireless network. In particular, in someembodiments, a first portion of the satellite positioning systeminformation, such as information from a first GPS satellite, may bereceived from the satellite positioning system at the given mobileterminal. At least a second portion of the satellite positioning systeminformation, such as satellite positioning system information from atleast a second GPS satellite, may be received from the satellitepositioning system by the at least one other mobile terminal. At leastone of the portions of the satellite positioning system information isthen communicated over the short-range, ad hoc wireless network. In someembodiments, at least one portion of the satellite positioning systeminformation that is received is processed by the receiving mobileterminal, to provide processed satellite positioning system information,which is then communicated over the short-range, ad hoc wirelessnetwork. Thus, even though a given mobile terminal may not be exposed tofour or more GPS satellites, the position of the given mobile terminalmay be determined using data from other mobile terminals that areexposed to other GPS satellites and are interconnected by a short-range,ad hoc wireless network.

Still other embodiments of the present invention cooperatively processsatellite positioning information by communicating satellite positionsystem timing information (e.g., satellite positioning system PN codephase information) among the mobile terminals that are linked by theshort-range, ad hoc wireless network. Specifically, in some embodiments,satellite positioning system timing information is communicated betweenthe given mobile terminal and at least one other mobile terminal overthe short-range, ad hoc wireless network, to cooperatively determine theposition of the given mobile terminal by the given mobile terminal andthe at least one other mobile terminal that communicate over theshort-range, ad hoc wireless network. In some embodiments, the satellitepositioning system timing information that is communicated between agiven mobile terminal and the at least one other mobile terminal overthe short-range, ad hoc wireless network is synchronized relative to afeature of a protocol that is used for the short-range, ad hoc wirelessnetwork communications. For example, synchronization with respect to aheader field of a short-range, ad hoc wireless network communicationsmay be used for synchronization purposes, to preserve the timinginformation as it is communicated among the mobile terminals that arelinked by the short-range, ad hoc wireless network.

In some embodiments, the satellite positioning system timing informationis communicated in response to a request for satellite positioningsystem timing information, that is communicated between the given mobileterminal and the at least one other mobile terminal over theshort-range, ad hoc wireless network. In other embodiments, thesatellite positioning system timing information may be repeatedlybroadcast between the given mobile terminal and the at least one othermobile terminal over the short-range, ad hoc wireless network. It willalso be understood by those having skill in the art that synchronizingrelative to a feature of the short-range, ad hoc wireless communicationprotocol may be used in distributing other satellite positioning systeminformation among the mobile terminals, according to other embodimentsof the present invention.

Still other embodiments of the present invention communicate assistancedata among the mobile terminals that are connected by the short-range,ad hoc wireless network. Specifically, assistance data may becommunicated between the given mobile terminal and the at least oneother mobile terminal over the short-range, ad hoc wireless network, tocooperatively determine the position of the given mobile terminal by thegiven mobile terminal and the at least one other mobile terminal thatcommunicate over the short-range, ad hoc wireless network, using theassistance data. As was the case with satellite positioning systemtiming information, the assistance data may be communicated in responseto a specific request and/or may be repeatedly broadcast. Moreover, theassistance data may be synchronized relative to a feature of theshort-range, ad hoc wireless network communications protocol.

It will be understood by those having skill in the art that embodimentsof the invention have been described above primarily with respect tomethods of determining a position of a given mobile terminal. However,other embodiments of the invention can provide mobile terminals thatinclude a cellular network transceiver that is configured to communicatewith a cellular base station, a short-range, ad hoc wireless networktransceiver that is configured to communicate over a short-range, ad hocwireless network, and a mobile terminal positioning system that isconfigured to communicate satellite positioning information between themobile terminal and at least one other mobile terminal via theshort-range, ad hoc wireless network transceiver, to cooperativelydetermine the position of a mobile terminal. Any of the embodimentsdescribed above may be used by the mobile terminal positioning system.

Moreover, other embodiments of the invention can include a short-range,ad hoc wireless network that comprises a plurality of mobile terminalsthat are configured to communicate satellite positioning systeminformation among one another over short-range, ad hoc wireless networklinks to cooperatively determine a position of at least one of themobile terminals. Any of the embodiments described above may be used tocooperatively determine the position of at least one of the mobileterminals. Finally, it will be understood by those having skill in theart that embodiments of the present invention described above may becombined in various combinations and subcombinations.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a conventional cellularcommunications system.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a GPS system.

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a short-range, ad hocwireless network.

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram illustrating cooperative positiondetermining according to various embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a mobile terminal according to variousembodiments of the invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic block diagram illustrating cooperative positiondetermining according to some embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of operations that may be performed forcooperative position determining in embodiments of FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a schematic block diagram illustrating cooperative positiondetermining according to other embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of operations that may be performed forcooperative position determining in other embodiments of FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 is a schematic block diagram illustrating cooperative positiondetermining according to still other embodiments of the presentinvention.

FIG. 11 is a schematic block diagram illustrating cooperative positiondetermining according to yet other embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of operations that may be performed forcooperative position determining in embodiments of FIG. 11.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart of operations that may performed to distributeassistance data according to embodiments of FIG. 12.

FIG. 14 is a schematic block diagram illustrating cooperative positiondetermining according to still other embodiments of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

The present invention now will be described more fully hereinafter withreference to the accompanying figures, in which embodiments of theinvention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in manyalternate forms and should not be construed as limited to theembodiments set forth herein.

Accordingly, while the invention is susceptible to various modificationsand alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way ofexample in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. Itshould be understood, however, that there is no intent to limit theinvention to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, theinvention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternativesfalling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by theclaims. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout the descriptionof the figures.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. Asused herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”,“comprising,” “includes” and/or “including” when used in thisspecification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps,operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude thepresence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps,operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. Moreover, whenan element is referred to as being “responsive” to another element, itcan be directly responsive to the other element, or intervening elementsmay be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being“directly responsive” to another elements, there are no interveningelements present. As used herein the term “and/or” includes any and allcombinations of one or more of the associated listed items and may beabbreviated as “/”. It will be understood that, although the termsfirst, second, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements,these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms areonly used to distinguish one element from another. For example, a firstelement could be termed a second element, and, similarly, a secondelement could be termed a first element without departing from theteachings of the disclosure.

The present invention is described below with reference to blockdiagrams and/or flowchart illustrations of methods, apparatus (systems)and/or computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It is understood that a block of the block diagrams and/orflowchart illustrations, and combinations of blocks in the blockdiagrams and/or flowchart illustrations, can be implemented by computerprogram instructions. These computer program instructions may beprovided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purposecomputer, and/or other programmable data processing apparatus to producea machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processorof the computer and/or other programmable data processing apparatus,create means (functionality) and/or structure for implementing thefunctions/acts specified in the block diagrams and/or flowchart block orblocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in acomputer-readable memory that can direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readablememory produce an article of manufacture including instructions whichimplement the function/act specified in the block diagrams and/orflowchart block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer orother programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series ofoperational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmableapparatus to produce a computer-implemented process such that theinstructions which execute on the computer or other programmableapparatus provide steps for implementing the functions/acts specified inthe block diagrams and/or flowchart block or blocks.

Accordingly, the present invention may be embodied in hardware and/or insoftware (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.).Furthermore, the present invention may take the form of a computerprogram product on a computer-usable or computer-readable storage mediumhaving computer-usable or computer-readable program code embodied in themedium for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system.In the context of this document, a computer-usable or computer-readablemedium may be any medium that can contain, store, communicate,propagate, or transport the program for use by or in connection with theinstruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

The computer-usable or computer-readable medium may be, for example butnot limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic,infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, device, or propagationmedium. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of thecomputer-readable medium would include the following: an electricalconnection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, arandom access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber,and a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM). Note that thecomputer-usable or computer-readable medium could even be paper oranother suitable medium upon which the program is printed, as theprogram can be electronically captured, via, for instance, opticalscanning of the paper or other medium, then compiled, interpreted, orotherwise processed in a suitable manner, if necessary, and then storedin a computer memory.

It should also be noted that in some alternate implementations, thefunctions/acts noted in the blocks may occur out of the order noted inthe flowcharts. For example, two blocks shown in succession may in factbe executed substantially concurrently or the blocks may sometimes beexecuted in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality/actsinvolved. Moreover, the functionality of a given block of the flowchartsand/or block diagrams may be separated into multiple blocks and/or thefunctionality of two or more blocks of the flowcharts and/or blockdiagrams may be at least partially integrated.

In accordance with certain embodiments of the present invention, aposition of a given mobile terminal is determined by communicatingsatellite positioning system information between the given mobileterminal and at least one other mobile terminal that communicate over ashort-range, ad hoc wireless network, to cooperatively determine theposition of the given mobile terminal by the given mobile terminal andthe at least one other mobile terminal that communicate over theshort-range, ad hoc wireless network. As will be described in detailbelow, satellite positioning system information may be usedcooperatively by distributing processing of satellite positioninginformation, by distributing receiving of satellite positioning systeminformation from a satellite, by communicating assistance data and/or bysynchronizing timing of satellite positioning information between thegiven mobile terminal and at least one other mobile terminal, over theshort-range, ad hoc wireless network.

FIG. 4 illustrates position determining systems, methods, networks anddevices according to some embodiments of the present invention. As shownin FIG. 4, a short-range, ad hoc wireless network is set up among fourmobile terminals 400 a-400 d. One of the mobile terminals 400 a will bereferred to as a “given” mobile terminal whose position is to bedetermined, whereas the other mobile terminals 400 b-400 d will bereferred to as an “other” mobile terminal that helps to determine theposition of the given mobile terminal 400 a. However, it will beunderstood by those having skill in the art that fewer or more than fourmobile terminals 400 a-400 d may be included in the short-range, ad hocwireless network 420. The mobile terminals communicate among one anotherover a plurality of short-range, ad hoc wireless network links 410.Moreover, the mobile terminals 400 a-400 d may be the same as oneanother and/or different from one another.

Still referring to FIG. 4, according to certain embodiments of thepresent invention, satellite positioning system information iscommunicated among the given mobile terminal 400 a and at least oneother mobile terminal 400 b-400 d over the short-range, ad hoc wirelessnetwork 420 using the links 410 to cooperatively determine the positionof the given mobile terminal 400 a by the given mobile terminal 400 aand at least one other mobile terminal 400 b-400 d that communicate overthe short-range, ad hoc wireless network 420.

Some embodiments of the present invention may arise from a recognitionthat mobile terminals having GPS receivers may execute GPS softwareusing the existing computing power in the mobile terminal that isnormally used for other purposes, such as for cellular communications,rather than including dedicated GPS hardware. These mobile terminalsalso may have short-range, ad hoc wireless network capabilities.Unfortunately, with GPS receivers that rely on software computations inthe digital signal processor and/or microprocessor of the mobileterminal, there may be insufficient computing power to process the GPSsignals quickly enough. Moreover, a given mobile terminal may also notsee a sufficient number of GPS satellites at adequate signal levels toperform the positioning determination. Finally, the time it takes tofind all the GPS signals to do a location fix may be greatly impacted byhow fast the first GPS satellite signal is found. Embodiments of theinvention can solve these and/or other potential problems by providingcooperative GPS processing among mobile terminals that communicate overa short-range, ad hoc wireless network.

By way of background, position determination techniques, such as GPS,use a collection of a requisite number of ranging measurements fromsignals passed between transmitter(s) and receiver(s), wherein eitherthe transmitter(s) or the receiver(s) have known or determinablelocations (i.e., positions). Further, each of the collected rangingmeasurements can generally be converted from a time interval measurementto a corresponding distance measurement, for example, by multiplying bythe speed of light or an expected speed of transmission associated withthe signal. Once the conversion from time to distance has beenaccomplished, then traditional triangulation, or other like mathematicaltechniques can be used to determine the positional coordinates of themobile terminal, based on the known locations and calculated distances.

In the case of the GPS location technique, the positions of the GPSsatellites vary with time. Thus, a GPS receiver generally needs toreceive an accurate measurement of time from the GPS satellites (or anaccurate GPS-related source on the ground) in order to know thepositions of the GPS satellites at the time of the ranging measurements.The ranging measurements between the GPS receiver and each of at leastfour (4) GPS satellites occurs by: 1) finding the starting point on the1023 chip long Gold code sequence within the signal transmitted by eachGPS satellite; 2) finding the start time of a bit edge; and 3) findingthe start time of the data message. The resulting “time of flight” forthe signal received from each GPS satellite is then converted todistance. The resulting four (4) range measurements allow for a solutionto the GPS receiver's position in x, y and z coordinates and fordetermination of the unknown time difference between the GPS time andthe GPS receiver's independent clock.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a mobile terminal 400, which may correspondto any one of the mobile terminals 400 a-400 d of FIG. 4, and whichincludes mobile terminal positioning computation, according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In particular, FIG. 5 illustratesa mobile terminal 400, a short-range, ad hoc wireless network signal580, a GPS signal 570 and a cellular communication network signal 575.The mobile terminal 400 may include a keyboard/keypad 505, a display510, a speaker 515, a microphone 520, a cellular transceiver 525, and amemory 530 that communicate with a processor (microprocessor and/ordigital signal processor) 540. The cellular transceiver 525 typicallycomprises a transmitter circuit 350 and a receiver circuit 345, whichrespectively transmit outgoing radio frequency signals to a base stationof the cellular network and receive incoming radio frequency signalsfrom the cellular network, such as voice communications, text messaging,email and the like, via an antenna 565. While a single antenna 565 isshown in FIG. 5, it is to be understood that multiple antennas and/ordifferent types of antennas may be utilized based on the types ofsignals being received. The radio frequency signals transmitted betweenthe mobile terminal 400 and the cellular network may include bothtraffic and control signals (e.g., paging signals/messages for incomingcalls), which are used to establish and maintain communication withanother party or destination, and may provide uplink and/or downlinkcommunications. However, the present invention is not limited to suchtwo-way communication systems. The foregoing components of the mobileterminal 400 may be included in many conventional mobile terminals andtheir functionality is generally known to those skilled in the art.

Also shown in the mobile terminal 400 of FIG. 5 is a short-range, ad hoctransceiver 555 and a satellite positioning system receiver, inparticular, a GPS receiver 560. The ad hoc transceiver 555, incooperation with the processor 540, communicates with one or more othermobile terminals. The operations of the ad hoc transceiver 555 and thecellular transceiver 525 support different associated wirelesscommunication protocols for the cellular communication network and thead hoc network, which generally are uncoordinated with one another. Forexample, in some embodiments of the present invention, the short-range,ad hoc transceiver 555 is configured to support communications with anad hoc protocol transmitter, such as a Bluetooth protocol transmitter.As used herein, an “ad hoc” protocol, network or transceiver refers toone that is generally configured at the time of use based on theresources available. Such networks typically provide a service discoveryprotocol to allow, for example, identification of available resources.They may also negotiate various aspects of operations, such as peerrelationships between resources, at the time of use of the resources.Moreover, “short-range” means a distance of about 100 meters or less,and may often be about 10 meters or less. In other embodiments of thepresent invention, the short-range, ad hoc transceiver 555 is configuredto communicate with mobile terminals in a wireless local area network(WLAN), such as an 802.11 series protocol compliant network. As usedherein, an 802.11 series protocol compliant network includes 802.11a,802.11b, 802.11g and any variations thereon that should be developed inthe future.

The GPS receiver 560, in cooperation with the processor 540, provides aprocessing system (apparatus or circuit)/method configured to processlocation signals, such as ranging signals, received from GPS satellites42. It will be understood, however, that not every mobile terminal 400in the short-range, ad hoc wireless network need include a GPS receiver560.

As also shown in FIG. 5, the mobile terminal 400 further includes amobile terminal positioning computation system (apparatus/circuit)and/or method 535 that is configured to use satellite positioning systeminformation cooperatively with at least one other mobile terminal thatcommunicates with the given mobile terminal over the short-range, ad hocwireless network, to cooperatively determine the position of the givenmobile terminal. The positioning computation system/method 535 maycontain one subsystem/method that is used when the mobile terminal iscooperatively determining its own position, and another subsystem/methodthat is used when the mobile terminal is cooperatively helping determinethe position of another mobile terminal. These subsystems/methods may bemerged, in whole or in part. Detailed operations for cooperativepositioning systems/methods, according to various embodiments of theinvention, will be described below.

While, for example, the positioning computation system/method 535, andthe processor 540 are shown as distinct blocks in the illustration ofFIG. 5, it is to be understood that the functionality of these blocksmay be combined into a single processor or spread across a plurality ofdifferent processors and/or other hardware configured to operate in themanner described herein. Furthermore, while the positioning computationsystem/method 535 and the GPS receiver 560 are shown as distinct blocksin the illustration of FIG. 5, it is to be understood that aspects ofthe functionality of these blocks may be spread across differentprocessors or circuitry and that the GPS receiver 560 may also, in part,provide the positioning computation system/method 535 of the presentinvention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of cooperative GPS processing usingpartitioning according to various embodiments of the present invention.As shown in FIG. 6, a community of mobile terminals 400 a-400 c arelinked together in a short-range, ad hoc wireless network 600. At leastone of the mobile terminals 400 a, also referred to as a given mobileterminal, includes a GPS receiver, such as a GPS receiver 560 of FIG. 5.This mobile terminal 400 a receives GPS signals from GPS satellites 610,stores the GPS signals in memory, such as the memory 530 of FIG. 5, andthen shares the signal among the other nearby mobile terminals 400 b-400c via the ad hoc links. The mobile terminals 400 a-400 c share theprocessing load to search for and process the GPS signals. The otherterminals 400 b/400 c can send the processed data, such as the startpoint of the PN code for each satellite processed relative to the dataset, back to the given terminal 400 a, which then combines the data tocalculate its position.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of operations that may be performed by a mobileterminals 400 a-400 c to perform cooperative GPS processing according tothose embodiments of the present invention that were illustrated in FIG.6. These operations may be performed, for example, by a positioningcomputation system/method 535 of FIG. 5. Specifically, at Block 710,satellite positioning information is received at the given mobileterminal 400 a from one or more GPS satellites 610. Then, at Block 712,the processing of the satellite positioning information that is used todetermine the positioning of the given mobile terminal 400 a ispartitioned. Many techniques may be used to partition the satellitepositioning information. For example, in some embodiments, the satellitepositioning information is partitioned according to the GPS satellite610 from which the information is received, so a given partitioncorresponds to the satellite positioning information from a givensatellite. However, other techniques also may be used to partition theinformation.

Still referring to FIG. 7, at Block 714, the partition(s) are sent tothe other mobile terminals 400 b/400 c via the short-range, ad hocwireless network 600, as illustrated in FIG. 6. It will be understood bythose having skill in the art that the given mobile terminal 400 a maykeep one or more partitions for its own processing. Moreover, not everyother mobile terminal 400 b, 400 c need receive the partition, and thepartitions that are received by a given other mobile terminal 400 b, 400c need not be equal in size or complexity.

It will also be understood by those having skill in the art that, inother embodiments of the present invention, at Block 714, the samepartition may be sent to multiple mobile terminals 400 b and 400 c whoseprocessing capability and/or availability may differ, so that the samepartition may be processed in duplicate, and the results that arereceived first are used and/or the results are combined.

Still referring to FIG. 7, in some embodiments of the present invention,if there are processing instructions that are associated with theprocessing (Block 720), the processing instructions are also sent, atBlock 722, via the short-range, ad hoc wireless network. Moreover,ancillary data may also be available at Block 724. The ancillary datamay be sent at Block 726 via the short-range, ad hoc wireless network.It will also be understood that the ancillary data may be acquired byand/or sent between any two or more of the other mobile terminals 400a-400 c. The use of ancillary data, such as assistance data, to assistin processing GPS data more quickly, is well known to those having skillin the art, and need not be described further herein.

Still referring to FIG. 7, at Block 732, the partitions are processed atthe given mobile terminal 400 a and/or at the other mobile terminals 400b, 400 c, to generate results. The results may be a range measurementand/or other intermediate data that is produced from the receivedsatellite positioning information. At Block 734, the results arereceived at the given mobile terminal 400 a, as also illustrated in FIG.6. Finally, at Block 736, the results are combined at the given mobileterminal 400 a to determine the position of the given mobile terminal400 a.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of other embodiments of the present invention,wherein cooperative GPS processing takes place by distributing thereceiving of satellite positioning system information from GPSsatellites among mobile terminals that are connected using ashort-range, ad hoc wireless network. Thus, GPS data received atmultiple mobile terminals may be used to calculate a location of a givenmobile terminal.

In particular, referring to FIG. 8, GPS data from two GPS satellites 610a, 610 b are received by the given mobile terminal 400 a, and GPS datafrom two other GPS satellites 610 c, 610 d are received by one or moreof the other mobile terminals 400 b. This situation may take place if,for example, the given mobile terminal 400 a only sees two GPS satellitesignals as it is near a north-facing window of a building, whereas theother mobile terminal 400 b sees two different satellite signals, as itis near a south-facing window in the building.

As shown in FIG. 8, the given mobile terminal 400 a and at least oneother mobile terminal 400 b share the GPS signals (as received and/or asprocessed), to cooperatively determine the position of a given mobileterminal 400 a.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of operations that may be performed by a givenmobile terminal 400 a and/or another mobile terminal 400 b of FIG. 8,according to some embodiments of the present invention. These operationsmay be performed, for example, by a positioning computationsystem/method 535 of FIG. 5. More specifically, referring to FIG. 9, atBlock 910, a first portion of the satellite positioning systeminformation, such as the signals from GPS satellites 610 a and 610 b, isreceived at the given (first) mobile terminal 400 a. At Block 920, atleast a second portion of the satellite positioning system information,such as the signals from GPS satellites 610 c and 610 d, is received atleast one other (second) mobile terminal 400 b. The received signals arethen communicated (distributed) among the mobile terminals in theshort-range, ad hoc wireless network 600 at Block 930, and processed bythe mobile terminals in the short-range, ad hoc wireless network 600 atBlock 940.

It will be understood that the operations of Blocks 930 and 940 may beperformed in a different order and/or may be combined. For example, thegiven mobile terminal 400 a may process the signals from GPS satellite610 a, 610 b without communicating these signals. Moreover, the othermobile terminal 400 b may communicate the signals that are received fromthe second and third GPS satellites 610 c, 610 d without processingthem, or may process these signals and then communicate the processingresults. Various other combinations may be provided.

Moreover, when the satellite positioning system information is processedto provide GPS timing information, such as PN code phase, the timinginformation may be synchronized relative to a feature of theshort-range, ad hoc wireless network protocol. Thus, satellitepositioning system timing information such as PN code phase, may be usedcooperatively by the given mobile terminal 400 a and at least one othermobile terminal 400 b that communicates with a given mobile terminal 400a over the short-range, ad hoc wireless network, by synchronizing thepositioning system timing information relative to a feature in theprotocol that is used by the short-range, ad hoc wireless networkcommunications. In some embodiments, the timing information can besynchronized relative to a header field and/or other feature of the adhoc network protocol.

In some embodiments, the timing information may be provided to the givenmobile terminal 400 a and/or to one of the other mobile terminals 400b/400 c in response to a request for satellite positioning system timinginformation between the given mobile terminal 400 a and the at least oneother mobile terminal 400 b/400 c that is communicated over theshort-range, ad hoc wireless network 600. The satellite positioningsystem timing information is then communicated in response to therequest. In other embodiments, satellite positioning system timinginformation may be repeatedly broadcast by one or more of the mobileterminals 400 a-400 c over the short-range, ad hoc wireless network 600,so that this timing information is periodically available among themobile terminals 400 a-400 c that communicate over the short-range, adhoc wireless network 600.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of cooperative GPS processing according toyet other embodiments of the present invention. In these embodiments,the satellite positioning system information (processed and/orunprocessed) that is communicated between the given mobile terminal 400a and the at least one other mobile terminal 400 b, 400 c over theshort-range, ad hoc wireless network 600 is synchronized relative to afeature in the protocol that is used in the short-range, ad hoc wirelesscommunication links 810. For example, in some embodiments, the satellitepositioning timing information can comprise timing of the satellitepositioning PN code phase, and the communication of the satellitepositioning PN code phase among the mobile terminals 400 a-400 c may besynchronized using the timing of a given field, such as a header field,in the short-range, ad hoc wireless network communications 810.

Accordingly, timing information may be communicated among the mobileterminals 400 a-400 c in the short-range, ad hoc wireless network 600using a timing feature of the ad hoc link air interface 810. Forexample, some mobile terminals in the short-range, ad hoc wirelessnetwork 600 can maintain timing and PN phase information of one or moreof the stronger GPS signals, and link that timing and/or PN phaseinformation to a timing feature of the ad hoc network protocol alongwith data about that relationship as a broadcast message and/or as aresponse message, to be available to the other mobile terminals 400a-400 c in the ad hoc network 600.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of cooperative GPS processing according tostill other embodiments of the present invention. These embodimentscommunicate assistance data 1110 between one mobile terminal 400 a andanother mobile terminal 400 b over the short-range, ad hoc wirelessnetwork 600, so that the assistance data may be used by another mobileterminal to cooperatively determine a position.

For example, as shown in FIG. 11, a given mobile terminal 400 a mayreceive GPS signals from four GPS satellites 610 a-610 d. One of theother mobile terminals 400 b may also obtain the GPS signal from the GPSsatellite 610 d. The other mobile terminal 400 b can generate assistancedata 1110 from the GPS signal, and then may communicate the assistancedata 1110 to the given mobile terminal 400 a and/or to one of the othermobile terminals 400 c via the short-range, ad hoc wireless network 600.

Moreover, in these embodiments, the assistance data may be synchronizedamong the mobile terminals 400 a-400 c relative to a feature of theshort-range, ad hoc wireless network communication protocol. Forexample, as shown in FIG. 11, one of the other mobile terminals 400 bcan deliver to the given mobile terminal 400 a the exact timing of asatellite 610 d PN code phase using a timing feature of the ad hocnetwork. In this way, the given mobile terminal 400 a can find thesatellite signal more quickly with a more directed search of thereceived data. By using this assistance data, the given mobile terminal400 a and/or one of the other mobile terminals 400 b/400 c that isperforming processing, may more quickly determine a position.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of operations that may perform cooperative GPSprocessing according to embodiments of the invention that wereillustrated in FIG. 11. These operations may be performed, for example,by a positioning computation system/method 535 of FIG. 5. As shown inFIG. 12, at Block 1210, assistance data is generated by one or more ofthe mobile terminals 400 a-400 c that are linked in the short-range, adhoc wireless network 600. The generation of assistance data is wellknown to those having skill in the art, and need not be describedfurther herein. Moreover, the term “generating assistance data” alsoincludes acquiring assistance data by one or more of the mobileterminals 400 a-400 c, from a wide area network and/or using otherconventional techniques.

Continuing with the description of FIG. 12, at Block 1220, theassistance data 1110 is communicated (distributed) over the short-range,ad hoc wireless network 600. In some embodiments, the data iscommunicated by synchronizing satellite positioning system timinginformation using a timing feature of the short-range, ad hoc wirelessnetwork protocol. For example, a C/A code start point may be indicatedas being a given number of microseconds off a unique Bluetooth featuresuch as a header. Then, at Block 1230, the satellite positioning systemdata is processed by one or more of the mobile terminals 410 a-410 cusing the assistance data 1110.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart of operations that may be performed to distributeassistance data according to various embodiments of the presentinvention, which may correspond to Block 1220 of FIG. 12. Theseoperations may also be used to distribute other ancillary information,according to other embodiments of the present invention.

Specifically, referring to FIG. 13, at Block 1310, a request may bereceived at one of the mobile terminals 400 a-400 c for assistance dataand/or other ancillary information from another mobile terminal 400a-400 c over the short-range, ad hoc wireless network 600. At Block1320, the assistance data and/or other information is distributed as aresponse.

Continuing with the description of FIG. 13, at Block 1330, if a timerelapses, then the assistance data is broadcast at Block 1340. It will beunderstood by those having skill in the art that the operations ofBlocks 1310 and 1330 may execute separately, or in combination as shownin FIG. 13. The distribution of data at Block 1320 and/or the broadcastof data at Block 1340 may take place by synchronizing the data relativeto timing information in the short-range, ad hoc wireless networkcommunications protocol, as was described above.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram of cooperative GPS processing according tostill other embodiments of the present invention. In embodiments of FIG.14, the given mobile terminal 400 a may not contain a GPS system. Yet,the given mobile terminal 400 a may obtain its position by communicatingwith at least one other mobile terminal 400 b over the short-range, adhoc wireless network 600. In particular, the given mobile terminal gainsaccess to GPS assistance data, for example, to assistance data on theInternet through the wide area network and/or to cellular networkassistance data. The assistance data may also be obtained by the givenmobile terminal 400 a from another mobile terminal 400 c using theshort-range, ad hoc wireless link. Regardless of how it is obtained, thegiven mobile terminal 400 a then passes this assistance data to at leastone other mobile terminal 400 b that includes a GPS receiving system.The other mobile terminal 400 b then determines its location via GPSutilizing the assistance data it received from a given mobile terminal400 a over the short-range, ad hoc wireless link. As shown in FIG. 14,this location or position information is then passed back to the givenmobile terminal 400 a. Thus, the given mobile terminal 400 a does notneed to have a GPS receiver in order to determine its position. Rather,it obtains its own position information in concert or cooperation with aremote device 400 b containing both a short-range, ad hoc wireless linkand UPS. The remote device 400 b is provided with assistance data, sothat it can obtain better performance and/or can work in locations wherea standalone GPS might not otherwise work.

In the drawings and specification, there have been disclosed embodimentsof the invention and, although specific terms are employed, they areused in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes oflimitation, the scope of the invention being set forth in the followingclaims.

1. A method of communicating satellite positioning system informationto/from a mobile terminal, the method comprising: synchronizingsatellite positioning system information that is communicated to/fromthe mobile terminal over a short-range, ad hoc wireless network relativeto a feature of a protocol that is used for the short-range, ad hocwireless network communications.
 2. A method according to claim 1further comprising: communicating the satellite positioning systeminformation that was synchronized to/from the mobile terminal over theshort-range, ad hoc wireless network.
 3. A method according to claim 1wherein the satellite positioning system information comprises satellitepositioning system timing information.
 4. A method according to claim 3wherein the satellite positioning timing information comprises timing ofa satellite positioning system PN code phase.
 5. A method according toclaim 1 wherein the feature of the protocol that is used for theshort-range, ad hoc wireless network communications comprises a headerfield in the short-range, ad hoc wireless network communications.
 6. Amethod according to claim 1 wherein synchronizing is preceded bycommunicating a request for satellite positioning system informationto/from the mobile terminal over the short-range, ad hoc wirelessnetwork and wherein synchronizing is performed in response tocommunicating the request for the satellite positioning systeminformation.
 7. A method according to claim 1 wherein the satellitepositioning system information comprises assistance data.
 8. A methodaccording to claim 1 wherein the short-range, ad hoc wireless networkcomprises a Bluetooth network.
 9. A mobile terminal comprising: ashort-range, ad hoc wireless network transceiver that is configured tocommunicate over a short-range, ad hoc wireless network; and a mobileterminal positioning system that is configured to synchronize satellitepositioning system information relative to a feature of a protocol thatis used for the short-range, ad hoc wireless network communications. 10.A mobile terminal according to claim 8 wherein the mobile terminalpositioning system is further configured to communicate the satellitepositioning system information that was synchronized to/from the mobileterminal via the short-range, ad hoc wireless network transceiver.
 11. Amobile terminal according to claim 9 wherein the satellite positioninginformation comprises satellite positioning system timing information.12. A mobile terminal according to claim 11 wherein the satellitepositioning timing information comprises timing of a satellitepositioning system PN code phase.
 13. A mobile terminal according toclaim 9 wherein the feature of the protocol that is used for theshort-range, ad hoc wireless network communications comprises a headerfield in the short-range, ad hoc wireless network communications.
 14. Amobile terminal according to claim 9 wherein the satellite positioningsystem information comprises assistance data.
 15. A mobile terminalaccording to claim 9 wherein the short-range, ad hoc wireless networkcomprises a Bluetooth network.
 16. A mobile terminal according to claim9 further comprising: a cellular network transceiver that is configuredto communicate with a cellular base station.
 17. A short-range, ad hocwireless network comprising: a plurality of mobile terminals that areconfigured to communicate information among one another overshort-range, ad hoc wireless network links by synchronizing theinformation relative to a feature of a protocol that is used by theshort-range, ad hoc wireless network links.
 18. A network according toclaim 17 wherein the short-range, ad hoc wireless network comprises aBluetooth network.
 19. A network according to claim 17 wherein thefeature of the protocol that is used by the short-range, ad hoc wirelessnetwork links comprises a header field in the short-range, ad hocwireless network links.